Professional Development Days (January)


Professional Development Days - January 2019


My first PD at Longford School occurred over the two teacher only days on Monday 28th January and Tuesday 29th January. 


Longford Handbook

What did I learn?


During these two days I was able to get my head around the many different systems used at school in regards to behaviour, schedules, timetables and responsibilities. 

My areas of responsibilities consist of the school production, music, drama and social sciences. 

We also had the pleasure to hear from Marcus Gough from the Ministry of Education. He spoke to us about relationships, routines and recognition and how these are essential in the classroom. 

I learnt that in the first few weeks of school it is important to set up meaningful relationships with the students, establish set routines (through modelling and teaching) and recognise what the children are doing right. Something to keep in mind with the latter is the 'magic ratio' which is four positive comments to one corrective comment.

"Relationships are the agents of change and the most powerful therapy is human love" ~ Dr Bruce Perry. 

What will I use to improve my practice? 


I was inspired by a short snippet of a Ted Talk that Marcus shared. It was done by an educator call Rita Pierson and she discussed the value and importance of human connection. 

From this video and from discussions with Marcus and other teaching staff I realised I want to achieve positive meaningful and individual relationships with my new students. I will do this by greeting them positively when they come in to the classroom so that they know they are all valued and acknowledged. I will also spend a few minutes a day talking to different students about their lives and what they like to do to find out more about them and what they are interested in. 


I will also use the 'magic ratio' as a guide for positive reinforcement and when negative behaviour occurs I will try to understand and\or figure out why it is happening. 
When children are behaving in a negative way it is usually because they are trying to communicate a need and they are either trying to gain something or avoid something.

Children are not their behaviours. Children are not the problem. The problem is the problem and a problem can be solved.   



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